Borges, Swedenborg and Mysticism

Jorge Luis Borges was profoundly interested in the ill-defined and shape-shifting traditions of mysticism. However, previous studies of Borges have not focused on the writer's close interest in mysticism and mystical texts, especially in the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772). This book examines the relationship between Borges' own recorded mystical experiences and his appraisal of Swedenborg and other mystics. It asks the essential question of whether Borges was a mystic by analysing his writings, including short stories, essays, poems and interviews, alongside scholarly writings on mysticism by figures such as William James. The book locates Borges within the scholarship of mysticism by evaluating his many assertions and suggestions as to what is or is not a mystic and, in so doing, analyses the influence of James and Ralph Waldo Emerson on Borges' reading of Swedenborg and mysticism. The author argues further that Swedenborg constitutes a far richer presence in Borges' work than scholarship has hitherto acknowledged, and assesses the presence of Swedenborg in Borges' aesthetics, ethics and poetics.

List of contents

Contents: The tension between scepticism and religious feeling in Borges - Borges' reading of Dante and Swedenborg - Was Borges a mystic, and does it matter? - William James and Borges as a scholar of mysticism - The influence of Swedenborg on Borges - Borges and Jung.

About the author

William Rowlandson is Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent.

Product details

• Authors: William Rowlandson
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2015
• EAN: 9783034308113
• ISBN: 978-3-0-3430811-3
• No. of pages: 257
• Dimensions: 166 mm x 15 mm x 229 mm
• Weight: 410 g
• Series: Hispanic Studies: Culture and Ideas; Hispanic Studies: Culture and Ideas
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > Romance linguistics / literary studies; Literaturwissenschaft, Geschichte, Literaturtheorie, Amerika, Gesellschaft und Kultur, allgemein, Texte: Antike und Mittelalter, Literaturwissenschaft, allgemein, Religion, allgemein, Regionalstudien, Regionalentwicklung, Romanistik (allgemein) / Literaturwissenschaft, Literaturgeschichte, Lateinamerikanisches Spanisch, aesthetics; ethics; poetics